Awakened Spells Box Set

by Logan Byrne

  “Yeah, but this damn fire won’t light,” Charlie said, as he tried to light the fire the old-fashioned way with matches.

  “Ignitus,” Britta said, waving her wand, a flash and spark startling Charlie as he jumped back.

  “Trying to kill me?” he asked, laughing.

  “Sorry,” Britta said, smiling and hugging him. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “So you guys used to work for M.A.G.I.C.?” Espy asked later that night, as we sat around the campfire and cooked our dinner.

  “That’s right,” Britta said, before setting the cast iron lid back on the pot hanging over the fire.

  “What was it like?” Espy asked, bright-eyed.

  “Hard,” Blake said, nodding. “A lot of work, all the time, but I wouldn’t have changed it for anything.”

  “It feels weird now, having all this free time. I was so used to doing all that paperwork and field work that now I feel a little empty without it,” Charlie said.

  “The job was definitely challenging, Espy, but it was worth it,” I said, looking at her as she obviously was loving every bit. “Like this one guy, Pokeshi.” I started to laugh a little, my stomach tickling, as the others shook their heads and Charlie rubbed his forehead with his palm.

  “That guy, let me tell you about that guy,” he said, perking up on the edge of his seat as Espy began to laugh a little. “He was this forest elf, right, and man oh man was he crazy! He was a smuggler, nothing super bad, and he always found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time. Or maybe it was the right place and the right time for us.”

  “We got so much out of him, information that was actually really helpful and made a difference in the missions we were doing,” Britta said.

  “What’s the craziest mission you guys did?” Espy asked.

  “Vampires?” Blake asked, looking over at us all.

  “Yeah, that was insane, but so was the casino. That night really shaped us as a group even more than we’d been going at organically,” I said.

  “What’s with the vampires? I’ve heard stories about them,” Espy said.

  “There was a crime group run by vampires and they were kidnapping mortals and making them do bad things,” Blake said, as I looked over at him while he talked to Espy. “It was really sad, because these were good people who would’ve never hurt anybody before, and these vampires made them do mean things.”

  My eyes softened, my stomach warm, as I watched the way he interacted with her. She wasn’t super young, definitely not a tiny kid, but he still talked to her kindly and tried not to get too technical or advanced. It showed he cared, and he didn’t feel or act annoyed with her asking questions. It made me feel good, seeing him interact with younger people like that. It made me hopeful for the future.

  “What did they do? The mortals, that is,” she asked.

  “Just some mean things that vampires do, like hurt people,” Britta said, interjecting.

  “Did you stop them?” she asked.

  “We did, all thanks to this one,” Blake said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

  “No, it isn’t because of me, don’t listen to him. Everything we did was a team effort, and there’s no way I could’ve done anything without everybody pulling their weight and helping out,” I said.

  “Don’t be so modest!” Blake said, smiling.

  “Lexa really is a wonder to see in combat, as well as just in the field being an auditor,” Charlie said.

  “Stop,” I said, shaking my head. I knew they were being funny and silly, and that they had to have known I didn’t do it all, but I still felt a little weird about it. I didn’t want to be the center of attention, and sometimes I wondered if the mark did that to me.

  I wasn’t just a normal witch like Britta, and once people knew I had the mark they treated me differently, like a celebrity, but I wasn’t that at all. I was just Lexa, the girl who stumbled into magic and joined the resistance, just like the rest of them. There wasn’t anything special about that, and I was fine with that. I just wanted to be treated like everybody else.

  “She’s just being modest,” Britta said, rubbing her hands together. “Anybody want dessert?” She looked over at me, winking slyly, as if to tell me she knew that I was uncomfortable, and she was diverting the attention away from me. I knew I could always count on her for that sort of thing.

  “I’m going to check on the surroundings and do a perimeter check,” Charlie said, before shifting and walking towards the edge of the ridge.

  “I’ll help you,” I said, jumping up, before dusting off my butt and hearing gravel crack under my boots.

  “Need a break?” he asked, as he prowled around before sitting on the edge of the ridge. His tail wagged gently as he looked over the horizon and at everything in between. Those cat eyes came in handy with a lot of things.

  “Things started to get heated,” I said, sitting on a flat rock next to him.

  “I know we praise you sometimes, but it isn’t to make you feel weird. We just all love you and want you to know that, is all,” he said, smelling the breeze that rolled through.

  “I know that, I guess. I just don’t want to be put on a pedestal. We’re all important. Anyway, do you see anything?” I asked.

  “I see some movement far away, but I can’t tell what it is. It’s too dark down there,” he said, tilting his head forward a bit.

  “How many things are moving?” I asked.

  “I think one, yeah, just one that I can see, but that doesn’t mean more aren’t down there. It could be just an animal or another creature, nothing harmful, but you never know,” he said.

  I looked back, seeing the flames from the fire behind us before I realized that it was sort of a beacon in the dark night sky. Anybody down there would be able to see it, possibly from well across the plains, and it was a liability for us. We didn’t need to draw that sort of attention towards ourselves.

  “We need to put that out,” I said, standing up.

  “I didn’t even realize. It’s giving us away,” Charlie said, before the two of us hurried back to the camp.

  I waved my wand, extinguishing the fire as a plume of smoke rolled upwards. “What happened?” Britta asked, with a nervous tone.

  “The fire is like a beacon, they’d be able to see it from a distance, if they haven’t already. I think we’re too high up to have this kind of luxury,” I said.

  “It’s for the best. We need to make sure we all stay safe, and the last thing we want is one of their scouts finding us. They might send somebody out to look for the two men we arrested earlier. If they know their men are missing, they’ll either think they made this fire, or that the people who took them did. Either way, they’ll come up here and we’ll have another fight on our hands,” Blake said.

  The fun and ambiance of the night quickly fleeted as the six of us sat around the fireless fire pit, the rolling breeze picking up as shivers ran down my spine and formed goose bumps all over my arms and legs. Yawning to signal my demise, Blake noticed me and thankfully realized what I was doing.

  “I think it’s time to turn in. We should get moving early if we’re going to catch up to them tomorrow. If we get out before they can move everybody along, it will only work to our advantage,” Blake said.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Charlie said, stretching and yawning. “Goodnight, everyone.”

  “Goodnight,” we all said, in unison, before crawling into our respective tents.

  “Thanks for that,” I whispered, as we got into ours. The wind rippled along the top of the tent, whistling gently into the interior, though our sleeping bags looked cozy and warm.

  “It’s why we’re such a good couple. We’re always on the same wavelength,” he said, winking.

  “Oh yeah, then what am I thinking right now?” I asked, squinting.

  “You’re thinking you want a kiss from me, but I’m not going to give you one,” he said, before kicking off his shoes and sliding into his sleeping bag.

  “What?” I ask
ed, gasping dramatically. “You’re totally wrong.”

  “About what?” he asked. “I’m never wrong.”

  “About me not getting one,” I said, before jumping on top of him. He laughed, moving his head from side to side, not letting me kiss him as he played hard to get. I laughed, snorting a little, as I tried to pin his head down and make him kiss me.

  “Nope,” he said, laughing.

  “Don’t make me get my wand!” I said, my face turning red with laughter, before my lips finally made contact with his. He stopped squirming, as if I had the magic touch, and kissed me back. I leaned my head back afterwards before brushing his hair back, staring into his eyes.

  “I’m really glad you came to the camp that one day,” he said, exhaling slowly.

  “Couldn’t imagine what my life would’ve been like if I hadn’t,” I said.

  3

  “Start loading them up! The boss wants us to leave within the hour,” a duskhowler said, as we peeked over a small hill overlooking their encampment.

  It was late morning two days later. We’d spent our entire day yesterday traversing the increasingly hilly and mountainous terrain in search of the missing tribe. As I looked down over the ridge, Britta and I both casting an Obscurio spell to keep ourselves hidden, I saw all of the Minotaurs locked up in cages, roaring and moaning, their fur tattered and dirty. I could see the strength and determination fleeting from their eyes.

  Time was running out, the man shouting below making us damn sure of that. If we were going to stand a chance of saving any of the Minotaurs, let alone all of them, we needed to come up with a plan before the duskhowlers got them all out of here.

  “How are they getting them out?” Charlie whispered, looking around.

  “There,” Blake said, pointing at a summoning portal that was forming across their camp. Mages were opening it, the pink crystals jutting from the dirt glowing as the magic intensified. It was ancient portal magic, definitely not what the resistance was using now. Maybe that was to keep the resistance off their radar. Portals could be tracked, if one was versed in the way.

  “How are we going to save them all?” I asked, as giant iron cages and carts were rolled in. The Minotaurs sat chained to one another, the duskhowlers treating them like animals and not creatures of human intelligence, which likely demoralized them even more than just being taken prisoner.

  “It’s going to be a group effort,” Britta said, looking at Faus.

  “You want me to do it?” he asked, shaking his head and exhaling slowly.

  “They won’t even see Espy up here by herself, as long as she stays hidden,” Britta said sharply, pre-scolding Espy. I couldn’t say that I blamed her. It was important that Espy didn’t try to help us.

  “I think we need to sneak down there, though. We can’t just run in guns blazing. They’ll pick us off before we get down the hill,” Charlie said.

  “Agreed. We should go in two groups. Knock out as many of them as we can by any means necessary, and then mount a frontal attack. We need to take down the portal,” Blake said.

  “The crystals are fairly fragile, given what they do. Some heavy force should shatter them. Each one you shatter will weaken the portal, and destroying three or more will essentially evaporate it,” Britta said.

  “Leave that task to me,” Faus said.

  “Espy, we need to you to promise to stay up here and stay hidden. We mean it! I don’t care if you hear your parents or somebody you know, you stay up here and we’ll get you and reunite you once the coast is clear,” I said sternly, looking her straight in the eyes.

  “I promise. It will be hard, but I’ll cover my ears and won’t hurt your chances of saving my tribe. It’s too important that you do,” she said, nodding.

  “What groups are breaking off?” Blake asked.

  “Keep it partners?” Charlie asked.

  “I think that’s best. It will keep our styles the same, and being on the same wavelength is important with this sort of job,” Britta said.

  Charlie scooted over to me before shifting, as Faus stayed over with Britta and Blake. “I’ll go with these two. Good luck,” he said.

  Charlie and I split away, crouched over and slipping over the edge of the hill into the duskhowlers’ base. I glanced back and saw Espy doing exactly what she’d promised. Her ears were covered and she sat curled in a ball, waiting for us to do the deed. Good girl.

  A small clump of dirt tumbled down the grassy hill and a guard took notice. Intrigued, his eyebrows furled as he walked over, looking for the source of the disturbance. “Rigormorio,” I whispered, the spell zapping out of my Obscurio before he gasped, his lifeless body falling to the ground.

  Charlie dragged him off to the side behind a tent before snapping the man’s wand in half with his claws. It was a nice touch.

  The camp was larger than I would’ve guessed, filling up the entirety of the sunken-in hillside, with tents and massive iron cages lining the field.

  We walked close to some Minotaurs, their heads hanging low, before one looked up, as if he could smell us, and he made direct eye contact with me. I stared at him, not threateningly, as he seemed to follow me as I walked with Charlie. He blinked slowly, letting out a bated breath through his massive hairy nostrils, before looking forward again and hanging his head. Part of me wondered if he thought we were with them, if he thought we were there to save them, or if he even saw us at all. I suppose I couldn’t stop to ask.

  I zapped five more men, Charlie breaking their wands, as I guessed Blake and Britta had likely done the same. Taking out even ten wizards was going to be game-changing for us, and the only problem was hiding their bodies for the time being. Breaking their wands was mean, even given what they were doing and what they likely had done with those wands, but I knew that the Rigormorio spell would wear off before our mission was over. We couldn’t have them regaining consciousness and whipping death curses at us.

  Before I could try to find them, panic ensued. Blake, trying to grab one of the guards, did so half-assed, and the man slipped away, screaming about intruders in the camp. A siren wailed overhead as Charlie and I looked at one another, seeing Blake and Britta lose their Obscurio, so I took ours off as well.

  I spun around as sparks began to fly. Spells roared past me from every direction as I tried to dodge them. Duskhowlers swarmed towards us, snarling as they attempted to either stop or kill us. “Arma Maximus!” I shouted, swirling a bubble shield around Charlie and myself.

  I looked over, seeing Britta doing the same, before Faus took off his glasses and his eyes began to turn red. He yelled, his voice deepening into a roar, as he grew three times his normal size and horns began to expand from his growing skull. The Minotaurs looked at him, their eyes large, as if they’d never seen anything of the sort before. Seeing him shift like that even mesmerized me, after all this time. It was a spectacle.

  His hooves slammed into the softened ground before he roared, charging out of the bubble and demolishing the men who stupidly stood in his path. He was heading for the portal as Britta shot spells to guard his flank as he progressed.

  “We have to play offense,” Charlie said, looking up at me. I nodded, spewing out spells as quickly as I could, flinging bolts of my bluish energy at any duskhowler who was stupid enough to get close.

  My wand glowed, the bright blue mark of my power melding with the golden veins within the crystal wand as each bolt and spell was amplified, taking down foes as they came towards us. “I’m going for it,” Charlie said, before sprinting out of the safety of the bubble.

  He pounced on the oncoming duskhowlers, causing me a surge of confidence, before I ran out of my own protection and helped him. He snapped their wands in half, puffs of magical smoke spewing from them as ghostly white duskhowlers watched their only source of victory being snatched away from them.

  Blake roared nearby, slashing duskhowlers. His eyes were as red as blood as his fur began to thicken. I could tell he was getting angry, but nowhere near as
angry as he could be. He hadn’t fully shifted, yet.

  “They’re destroying our crystals!” a man screamed. I looked over through the madness and destruction and saw Faus having an absolute field day with their crystals. They shattered all around him, his eyes enraged, before Charlie nudged me.

  “The Minotaurs. Maybe some of them can help!” he said, and we ran towards one of the massive cages. It held five of them, all larger males, their faces blank as they blinked slowly.

  “We’re here to help,” I said, before beginning to chip away at the long chains and locks with my wand.

  “Why are you doing this?” one of them asked.

  “Why would you defile your own kind for us?” another questioned.

  “They’re not our kind. They’re evil, and we’re not. We stand with the resistance, and we stand for your freedom and safety,” I said, before the lock broke and I pulled it away. The door creaked open and the Minotaurs barreled out before coming close to me, their hulking physiques enough to make me nervous.

  “We saved one of you. Her name is Espy,” Charlie said, looking up at the massive Minotaurs.

  “You have my daughter?” the largest male asked, looking floored.

  “She’s nearby and safe. We rescued her from the inferno of your camp and brought her to you. She wouldn’t allow us to take her to the safety of the resistance camp. She insisted on coming with us,” I said.

  “But we can’t get you to her until this threat, these men, are taken care of and they’re arrested,” Charlie said.

  “Rise up, tribe! Today is the day we renounce our mistreatment at the hands of these men, these faceless cowards, and fight!” Espy’s father roared, the other Minotaurs cheering, their voices splitting the air like exploding cannons.

  “We’ll help you free as many as we can, but we can’t let our friends get into danger,” I said.

  “You four, go help their friends break down that portal. I’ll help them free our brothers and sisters,” Espy’s father said, before we split up.